​Employees have little trust in human resources departments to deal fairly and effectively with workplace bullying, according to a study published in the Journal of Business Ethics.

Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Bishop Grosseteste University carried out an analysis of people’s online reporting of their experiences of workplace bullying.

Among the responses, no participant had anything positive to write about how their organisation’s human resources departments had dealt with their bullying problem.

Bullied employees reported being ignored, victimised even further, and said HR routinely sided with “management bullies”.

The study is the first to apply a netnographic analysis, where the researcher watches and analyses a string of online discussions and commentary as it emerges, to the problem of workplace bullying.

It reveals human resources fail to deal with workplace bullying to the satisfaction of workers and suggests systemic failures due to several factors.

These include legal ramifications and reputational damage for an organisation that admits a case of bullying; concern about losing perpetrators who are deemed to be ‘star performers’ in terms of ability; and time lost to investigation and decision-making.

Clive Boddy, lead author and associate professor at the Faculty of Business and Law at ARU, said, “Our research shows workers to be critical of HR departments in dealing with the messier, darker side of organisational life.

“If there is an acceptance that internal procedures will not protect them, employees are less likely to report workplace bullying, and will suffer in silence – potentially causing damage to mental health and affecting productivity.

“It is in the interest of both employee and employers that strict codes of conduct or established and effectively policed by HR or alternative ways of dealing with workplace bullying will need to be found if HR are incapable of helping the workers who need it the most.”

The comments analysed appear to be predominantly from employees of commercial companies based in English-speaking countries across the world.

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